1. www.incompliancemag.com August 2013 In Compliance 93
L
ike any country in the world,
China has its own regulations
for electronic equipment. China
Compulsory Certification (CCC) is the
most widespread certification you need
to overcome.
CCC certification covers a wide
range of products, electrical and
non-electrical, which are listed in the
CCC category. This category may be
updated according to the government’s
regulatory requirements. For example,
some medical equipment was recently
removed from the CCC category.
WHAT ARE THE
REQUIREMENTS OF CCC?
CCC certification contains three
phases: type testing (safety and EMC),
initial factory inspection and follow
up inspection. Currently, there are
mainly three certification bodies for
electronic equipment: China Quality
Certification Center (CQC) which
is the biggest certification body and
can issue all electronic equipment
CCC applications; China Information
Security Certification Center (ISCCC)
can issue information technology
equipment (ITE) CCC certificates;
China Electronics Standardization
Institute (CESI) can issue Audio Video
CCC certificates.
TERMS YOU NEED TO
UNDERSTAND
Manufacturer is the company who
designs the product and owns the
patent. Factory is where the end
product is assembled, tested and
labeled. If the manufacturer and the
factory are different, then it will be
original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) or original design manufacturer
(ODM) mode. Each CCC certificate
can only list one manufacturer and one
factory, so if you have more than one
factory manufacturing your product,
you must apply for a CCC certificate
for each factory. For OEM mode, the
manufacturer can add multiple factories
without retesting but each new factory
should be CCC approved or needs to
be inspected if it is not CCC approved.
For ODM mode, the factory can
add multiple manufacturers without
retesting. The CCC certificate is valid
for five years but may also depend
on the OEM/ODM agreement. If the
agreement is less than five years, your
CCC certificate may be valid for a
shorter period of time. So to avoid
such problem, it is important to sign a
longer agreement.
Are You Ready for Entry to China?
China is becoming the largest consumer market in the world. Electronic
equipment especially high-tech devices are most popular in China. An
attractive market, yes, but are you prepared to enter this vast marketplace?
BY PAUL WANG

2. 94 In Compliance August 2013 www.incompliancemag.com
GENERAL PROCESS
The applicant (must be a company
or organization) can submit the
application to the certification bodies
mentioned above. Once the application
is accepted, the manufacturer must
send samples to the accredited lab
in China to test. There are many
accredited test labs you can choose
but each lab has its own category and
region. For example, some test labs
can only test products manufactured
in Japan, some can only test products
manufactured in North America. If
there is no failure during the test, the
test report will be issued by the test
lab and reviewed by the certification
body. This process does not always
go smoothly. The test engineer may
require some additional information
like the full company names of the
component manufacturers; special
ratings of certain components like the
thickness of the insulation tape of the
transformer, the creepage distance
of the optocoupler; updated power
supply label with the altitude or non-
tropical zone symbols, etc. After all the
information is provided, the report will
be approved and the CCC certificate
will be released after the payment has
cleared. Then, as long as the factory is
CCC approved, the manufacturer can
move forward by applying for the CCC
mark approval with the CCC certificate.
STANDARDS
CCC refers to Chinese national
standards (Guobiao or GB standards).
Usually the GB standard is harmonized
to an IEC standard. For example
for ITE: GB4943 is harmonized to
IEC60950; GB17625 is harmonized to
IEC61000-3-2; GB9254 is harmonized
to IEC/CISPR 22. There are some
minor national deviations like ratings,
altitude or tropical zone requirements.
Generally, if you can pass the IEC
standard, you should be confident in
passing the CCC test.
WITH CB OR WITHOUT CB?
Use of a CB report may be a
double edged sword. The benefit of
transferring CB report to CCC report
is obvious: save time and reduce cost.
If the product is complex and the
components are not CCC or CQC
approved, using CB report to avoid
component level test is a good choice.
However it is important to confirm
information used on CB report is
accurate. For example, the company
name, factory address, product model
numbers, ratings and components must
be the same as CCC report. If you want
to add or change some components,
you must update the CB report first
which may add more time to the
process. So in order to use CB more
efficiently, it is important to double
check all the related information for
accuracy, and modify as needed to
avoid delay.
FACTORY INSPECTION
CCC requires an initial factory
inspection and a follow-up inspection.
The purpose of this requirement is
to assure product consistency. The
requirements of the inspection include
two aspects: quality control and
product consistency. Quality control
is similar to ISO9001 system. You
need to have all the procedures and
documents ready to control the product
quality. Product consistency requires
the product on the production line be
exactly the same as the test sample,
like the components, construction,
company information, etc. The
verification test report and routine test
will also be checked. If the standard is
updated, you need to update your CCC
report before the deadline and provide
the updated CCC certification to the
auditor during follow up inspection.
HELPFUL TIPS
• CCC accepts model series so you
can group similar products into one
family to reduce cost.
• Pretest your samples before sending
to the test lab to avoid failure.
• Provide required information in time
to avoid delay.
• Conduct internal audit or mock audit
to avoid factory inspection failure.
LATEST NEWS FOR
GB17625.1 STANDARD
UPDATE
The GB17625.1-2012 standard was
released on July 1, 2013 to replace
the GB17625.1-2003. This standard
update will affect Information
Technology Equipment, audio video
products, electrical tools, lighting
devices, telecom terminals, and part
of household products. Manufacturers
need to update the standard before the
next factory inspection this year. Or
they can conduct testing in an ILAC
approved, self-owned lab. Products
with input power less or equal to 75W,
testing can be exempted.
(the author)
PAUL WANG
works for G&M Compliance
Inc. as technical director
mainly focus on China
certifications. He is also
on the Board of Directors
of IEEE Product Safety
Engineering Society. He can
be reached at paulwang@gmcompliance.com.
CCC refers to Chinese national standards (Guobiao or GB standards). Usually the GB
standard is harmonized to an IEC standard.